The storm lasted perhaps 10 to 15 minutes. On Geneva Lake that was long enough.
A privately owned motorboat was out on the water on Friday, July 3, with ten people aboard: six adults and four children. Every child wore a life jacket. Three of them still died, a 6-year-old boy and girls aged 7 and 10, according to a release from the Geneva Lake Law Enforcement Agency.
What happened on the water
The storm swept across Walworth County shortly after noon. Downburst winds reached up to 100 mph and brought down hundreds of trees and damaged several buildings.
The boat was a 25-foot 2024 Nautique P25, rated for a maximum of 19 people. Its operator, a 47-year-old man whom police described as an experienced boater, tried to find safety as conditions got worse and could not. He turned the boat into the wind. At least two large waves then hit it and broke over the bow, and the boat took on a great deal of water and rolled onto its side. One more wave rolled it completely. Everyone on board went into the water.
Six adults and one child were pulled out alive. Rescuers then began an intensive search for the three missing children. Police said they were found inside the sunken boat in 32 feet of water. Lifesaving efforts started at the scene and continued during transport to hospitals, but all three were pronounced dead.
Cause of death and the investigation
Police said the children had no external injuries and that the preliminary cause of death fits freshwater drowning. The release said every juvenile aboard wore a life jacket of the proper size and fit.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Geneva Lake Law Enforcement Agency are investigating together, and the circumstances remain under active investigation. The wreck was near Big Foot Beach State Park, according to the Walworth County Community News. Police boats, sheriff’s deputies, fire crews from the City of Lake Geneva and the Village of Fontana, the Water Safety Patrol and the Walworth County Medical Examiner’s Office all took part in the response.
Officials have not released the names of the dead or said how they were related to the other people aboard. The remaining passengers were a 75-year-old man, a 73-year-old woman, a 49-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy. The group lived in Batavia and Wheaton in Illinois and in Fontana, Wisconsin.
Sources
- Three children drown after boat capsizes on Geneva Lake during storm
- Children killed in Geneva Lake boating accident were 10, 7 and 6 years old
